


Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

by wesawbears



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 12:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8752402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wesawbears/pseuds/wesawbears
Summary: For Jeremy, the true meaning of Christmas is patience, family, and love. But above all else, cookies. Which are better homemade no matter what Jean says.





	

“Jeremy!” his mother calls as she scoops him up and away from the oven. He was six and had just been really excited by the prospect of cookies.

 

“But Mama, I wanted to see them!” he whines.

 

She laughs and sets him back on the ground. She kneels down next to him and taps his nose. “I know, querido. But patience is a virtue. In just a few minutes, they’ll be done and you can have a cookie, alright?”

 

He sighs, but nods and pulls his kitchen stool that he stands on to help his mama bake over to the oven so he can sit and wait.

 

When the timer dings, he watches her pull the cookies out of the oven and sees they’re shaped like snowflakes! They’re so pretty that Jeremy goes to grab at one, but his mother repeats, “No, baby, they’re still too hot. Patience is a virtue.”

 

He huffs and waits all the way through the cooling time and waits until his Mama ices them and then helps her put the sprinkles on them. When she finally hands him a cookie, he bites into it and it’s pure bliss. 

 

She laughs at the look on his face and says, “See, my darling? Things are better when you wait for them. Especially around Christmas.”

 

“Like with presents?” he asks excitedly.

 

“Like with presents. Now let’s get this plate set up nice for Santa and then get you to bed.”

 

“And when I wake up, he’ll have been here?”

 

“Yes, sweetheart.”

 

Jeremy practically ran to his bed and his mother stifled a laugh at her silly boy.  
\--

 

Jeremy follows his Mama’s advice. He’s patient when he doesn’t make it onto the Exy team his freshman year of high school. He’s patient when he just wants to get his acceptance letter to USC. He’s patient when things are hard and it feels like all he can do is wait for something better.

 

And now he’s patient as he mixes together dough from his Mama’s cookie recipe, even when he’s pretty sure this one spot of flour is never going to get mixed in. 

 

Jean leans against the doorframe, watching him, and says, “If it’s giving you that much trouble, we could just go buy cookies, darling.”

 

Jeremy almost drops the bowl. “It’s not the same! Homemade always taste better!”

 

Jean looks amused and holds his hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to make your life easier, love.”

 

“Store-bought,” Jeremy mumbles in an offended voice. “At Christmas.”

 

“Isn’t the fact that the cookies exist what counts?” Jean asks.

 

Jeremy takes a deep breath. “The point of Christmas is waiting for something good to happen. Knowing that if you’re patient the wait is worth it.”

 

Jean laughs. “I thought the point of Christmas was shopping.”

 

Jeremy wants to be annoyed, but Jean is in a good enough to be teasing and laughing and it’s impossible to be angry when Jean looks at him like that. Instead, Jeremy says, “You need to be nice to me or I won’t let you have any cookie dough.”

 

Jean walks up to him and wraps his arms around him loosely from behind, lacing their fingers together. “I know about waiting. I waited so long for you.” He presses a kiss lightly to Jeremy’s neck.

 

Jeremy blushes and abandons his fork for a moment to turn and face Jean. “I waited a long time for you too.” He presses up to kiss him. “But flattery still won’t get you any cookie dough.”

 

Jean rolls his eyes and draws him in for another kiss. “You’re sweeter anyway.”

 

It’s cheesy, but Jeremy laughs delightedly. “What’s put you in such a good mood?”

 

“I guess your Christmas spirit is infectious.”

 

“Good. I’ve shown you the light.”

 

Jean snorts affectionately and leaves him to continue stirring. They get the cookies on the baking sheet and put them in the oven together. 

 

Jeremy closes the oven door triumphantly and says, “I’ll show you why homemade cookies are better. Give it a few minutes.”

 

They find ways to pass the few minutes and the cookies ding to show they’re ready and they pull them out of the oven. Once they’re cool, they each pick one up and Jeremy takes a lot of satisfaction from the pleased face Jean makes as he eats the cookie.

 

“So?” Jeremy asks.

 

“Better than store-bought.”

 

Jeremy smirks. “See? I told you. Good things come to those who wait.”

 

Jean kisses him again and it tastes like sugar and Jeremy can’t help but think that he’s so lucky he waited for the good things in his life, because he gets to have this every day.

 

\--

 

“Daddy, why do cookies take so long?”

 

Jeremy laughs and crouches down so he’s at eye level with his daughter. “I don’t know, mi querida. They just do.”

 

“Papa told me they have cookies already made at the store.”

 

Jeremy looks up to see Jean’s guilty face and rolls his eyes affectionately.

 

He turns back to her. “They do. But do you want to know what my Mama told me?”

 

She nods her head eagerly.

 

“She told me that the best things in life happen when we wait for them. And that waiting makes them better because we appreciate them more. Like how you wait for Santa?”

 

She nods excitedly.

 

“Cookies are like that. They taste better when you have to watch them turn into something delicious.”

 

“Can you tell me a story while we wait for the cookies?”

 

“Sure!” he motions for Jean to come sit with them on the floor by the oven. It’s a silly picture they make, on the kitchen floor, but it fits them. “What kind of story do you want to hear?”

 

“Something about Christmas. With you and Papa!”

 

“Oh, Christmas with me and Papa? Hmm…”

 

“Well our first Christmas all we had was this little tree, and a couple of lights, but we still made it happy, right?”

 

Jean nods and adds on, “There was also the Christmas where the tree was too big for the room and we had to adjust it every day.”

 

Jeremy retalitates with, “Or the Christmas where Papa forgot the cookies in the oven and we had to wait outside in the cold.”

 

Jean quietly adds, “Or our first Christmas with you.” He tickles her sides and she laughs.

 

Jeremy smiles. “You were the best gift we ever got. And you know? We had to wait quite a while. But you make us so happy and if we weren’t patient, we wouldn’t be nearly as happy.”

 

She said, “But waiting is hard!”

 

Jean nodded. “It is hard. But I promise it’s worth it.” He reached out and squeezed Jeremy’s hand.

 

She sighed. “I guess…”

 

Jeremy laughed. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

 

Sure enough, the timer went off a few minutes later and Jean watched her while Jeremy pulled them out of the oven. They decorated them together and with a warning that they were hot, she finally got to eat her cookie.

 

“Worth it?” Jeremy asked.

 

She nodded enthusiastically and the crumbs all over her chin spoke for themselves. 

 

He laughed. “Patience is a virtue.” 

 

And watching her, with Jean’s thumb rubbing softly over his knuckles and the glow of Christmas lights all around the house, Jeremy thought he finally understood the true meaning of his Mama’s words. 

 

He pressed a soft kiss to Jean’s lips and whispered, “Merry Christmas.”

 

Jean smiled and wrapped his arm around his waist as they watched their daughter settle into a post-cookie coma. “I think she has the right idea.”

 

They pulled her over to the couch and settled on either side of her and settled in for a nice Christmas nap, happy, warm and content.


End file.
